Gamecocks gear up for showdown in Death Valley

Wednesday

Oct 10, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 11, 2012 at 12:18 AM

No. 3 USC travels to one of nation's most rowdy stadiums to face No. 9 LSU on Saturday.

By ERIC BOYNTONeric.boynton@shj.com

There are only a select few college football stadiums across the nation that constantly enter into pregame conversations and loom as an additional character all their own.LSU's Tiger Stadium, also known as Death Valley, is consistently mentioned anytime, anywhere, as one of the most intimidating venues for visiting teams and South Carolina is next to stick its head in the collective tiger's mouth.There is an actual live Tiger who is stationed near the visiting locker room and watches the proceedings from the sideline during the game. USC coach Steve Spurrier drew laughs at his weekly press conference when asked about the mascot.“The tiger doesn't play defense or offense for them, not yet anyway,” Spurrier said. “And they do keep it caged there. We don't talk a lot about (the environment). Our guys know it's going to be very, very loud, just like it was for Georgia at home last week. That's just part of the game. The home crowd gets a chance to scream at you.“Hopefully we won't have a bunch of offsides and things like that. We really need to concentrate on our assignments the best we can.”The No. 3 Gamecocks are seeking to win their first road matchup against a fellow top-10 team when they clash with ninth-ranked LSU on Saturday and that opportunity will come in an environment where they'll really have to earn it.LSU owns the nation's longest home winning streak at 21 games with its last loss coming Oct. 10, 2009 to top-ranked Florida by 13-3. Of those victories, 15 came by 10 points or more and head coach Les Miles is 47-6 all-time at home with three of the six losses coming in overtime to Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. The team is also 35-1 at home on Saturday night under Miles.Famed college football analyst Beano Cook once proclaimed that, “Dracula and LSU football are at their best after the sun goes down.”Former LSU coach Mike Archer was once asked the difference between a day game and night game at Death Valley to which he answered, “At night you can smell the bourbon on the field.”Tiger Stadium owns the nation's 10th-largest collegiate football capacity at 92,452 and multiple listings of the loudest venues puts it right at the top. Spurrier had his share of success there in the past having gone 5-2 at Tiger Stadium and 11-3 overall vs. LSU. His lone trip with the Gamecocks resulted in a 28-16 defeat in 2007.“It's a tough place to play,” Spurrier said. “Loud screaming, we won't be able to audible like last week when we changed a whole bunch of plays so hopefully we can get the right one called at the beginning and go from there.”South Carolina receiver/returner Ace Sanders acknowledged his coaching staff hasn't harped too much on the certain rude welcome that will be afforded the Gamecocks, but the players are aware of what awaits.“We can't let the fans really get to us because we know it's going to be a really hostile,” Sanders said.A couple of legendary coaches famously weighed in over years past on their visits with former Alabama coach Paul “Bear” Bryant once saying, “Baton Rouge is the worst place in the world for a visiting team. It's like being on the inside of a drum.” Former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd once exclaimed that, “It was like the Colosseum in Rome and we were the Christians.”All that doesn't faze a guy like Spurrier who's seen more than his share of raucous places over the years and with the recent rise of the USC program, many of the Gamecocks certainly aren't strangers either.“We haven't talked to our team too much about the stadium,” Spurrier said. “They know it's going to be loud, crazy, all that sort of stuff, but we've won in front of 90,000 before. Most of our guys were in ‘The Swamp' (at Florida) two years ago and just about all of them were at Georgia last year.”Of course this will be the first trip for the entire current roster to LSU which promises to provide a memorable experience whether in victory or defeat.“There's a 25-yard-long sign that reads ‘Welcome to Death Valley' mounted below the press box,” ESPN's Jim Caple said a while back. “That's beautiful. It's like descending into Hell and finding a sign that reads, ‘Satan invites you to enjoy eternal damnation.' ”

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